Our Song of the Day is a track premiere from Kathryn Williams. Cuckoo is taken from her new album of songs, ‘Hypoxia’, inspired by Sylvia Plath’s ‘The Bell Jar’, to be released via One Little Indian on 15th June.
The album’s songs came out of an open commission from New Writing North for Kathryn to write something about Plath for the Durham Book Festival’s celebration of her life and work, commemorating the 50th Anniversary of The Bell Jar’s publication last year.
‘Cuckoo’ was co-written with Ed Harcourt who also produced the new album. Says Kathryn of the track, “This song is from the point of Esther’s mother (in The Bell Jar). Seeing a child go through what Esther goes through – the dread, the alienation. I find this hard to listen to. I admired Plath’s unnerving stare – it is precisely for this reason I have been so visceral with some of my lyrics.”
On a lighter note she adds “This song was written in Ed’s bath!”
Hypoxia Full Tracklist
1. Electric/ 2. Mirrors/ 3. Battleships/ 4. Cuckoo/ 5. Beating Heart/ 6. Tango with Marco/ 7. When Nothing Meant Less/ 8. The Mind is Its Own Place/ 9. Part of Us.
Kathryn also announces live dates in June & July as follows:
Wed 20th May – JW3, London
Wed 10th June – Leaf, Liverpool
Thur 11th June – Old Cinema Launderette, Durham
Wed 17th June – The Black Swan, York
Thur 18th June – The Burgess Foundation, Manchester
Fri 19th June – The Victoria Theatre (Green Room), Halifax
Sun 21st June – The Voodoo Rooms (Speakeasy Bar), Edinburgh
Wed 1st July – The Kitchen Garden Café, Birmingham
Thur 2nd July – Octagon Chapel, Norwich
Fri 3rd July – Ramsgate Music Hall, Ramsgate
Sat 4th July – The Folk House, Bristol
Wed 8th July – The Green Note, London
Thur 9th July – Cluny 2, Newcastle upon Tyne